Mary B Spires Watercolor & Art Stuff

Miss Hattie Stasi .......... sooooo cute! She came to visit her great grandmother last night........she's sure is a happy baby..... As you can see my three grand kids are making fun of their Nana.........I'll show them......they are having so much fun together, it's been a long time since they've been together......I love watching them together.....of course they took out the baby pictures last night......we decided that Hattie looks like her daddy (Luke).........but she does have Brittney's personality!!!!! Love you guys! It's been a very busy time, plus I had a little overnight visit at the hospital a couple of days ago.....my heart was doing funny things. I took a stress test yesterday, will know the results in a few days......I leave on Tuesday for Tahoe with the girls....we all turned 60 this year!!!! urg!!!! I'm hoping my vacation with the girls will get me back on track and back to painting........I think I've been in an artist block for a...

I'm having a little problem with posting more than one paragraph. To continue with Artid Gallery; it's a great "on line Gallery" plus the monthly fee includes your listing on eBay for 30 days. If the item is sold youpay a small commission. This works for me, plus it's less work! I hope to have the Gallery up and running this week. So be sure to check back!

10"x 8" Oil on Canvas Board Convention is over, classes went great, plus I got to meet new students and visited with old friends. I can't believe it's been so long since I painted and had something I could post. I have been working on landscapes, but it's isn't going well! It's about practice! urg ! I have made a few changes, I joined an on line gallery Artid Gallery. It's a great gallery with wonderful artist in all media. For a small monthly fee you can put your paintings in their eBay store for 30 days. If the painting sells you pay a small commission. I hope to get it up and running this week. I haven't posted anything in my Etsy store, but hope to get caught up this week.

I'm sure you think I've fallen off the end of the earth!!!! It's been a very busy time. I just returned from Canada with a week of fun in the sun and painting. As most of you know I'm not the greatest landscape painter......after a week of painting I'm still haven't painted anything I want to post. (sorry) Next week is the Heart of Ohio Tole convention in Columbus, I'm busy getting ready to teach a couple of classes. Hope to be back to a regular schedule in a week or so!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks.........not a good time for painting....I've been framing, matting and general business stuff to get ready for the Lancaster Art Walk...I will have 33 Oil paintng at ADAMAH and 22 Watercolors at Main Street Gallery....hope to see you Friday Night! All the "art" will be up for the following week....check with the various location for times the business are open.

Click Here to Place Your Bid 6" x 6" oil on canvas board Painted this one at class on Tuesday......what a fun class!!! I'm getting ready for the "Lancaster Art Walk" Friday, July 18th.......hope to see a few of you there!!!!

Click Here to Bid 10" x 8" Oil on Canvas Board Susan Carlin wanted me to talk about the "glow" around the objects in my recent still lives. I've been studying Gregg Kreutz book Problem Solving for oil Painters, he says: To keep a picture from looking static there must be a sense of the light increasing and decreasing in intensity throughout. The light area of each object must contain a lighter and a darker part, and the picture as a whole should have a sense of orchestration from either dark to light or light to dark. As in this painting, I've added a lighter value (white, yellow or orange) into the background mix going around the objects in the painting. If you look at artist that work in the "Chiaroscuro Style" such as David A. Leffel or J Legg they always have a glow around their subject matter. I've always loved "Chiaroscuro Style", but never tried to paint that way, but the last few paintings have been so much fun I think I...